08 July 2013

Quilting! Kinda.

2013 has been the year of crafting for me. I've tried a bunch of new things and am having a blast. A few weeks ago, I even signed up for a crafty pen pal thing that I was really looking forward to. Unfortunately, my girl flaked out on me. Luckily, Wendy jumped in and saved the day and suggested that we do a monthly craft exchange with each other. Yes, please! I am always more creative when I am making something for someone specific. And, if I use this opportunity to try something new and fail, Wendy isn't going to care! She'll likely have suggestions on how to improve on what I've done. Win. Win. Win.So, for July, I made her an adorable, if I do say so myself, hanging card decoration thingy. She had recently stumbled upon a quilt block pattern that she loved, so I immediately knew I wanted to make her something with that. I played around with a few things and settled on a hanging card decoration thingy. :-)Originally, I was going to frame the card, but it's not quite frame-worthy. Then I was going to make the pattern into a greeting-type card, but that seemed too simple. The end result:

I enjoyed the project so much that I made myself one:

Quilting is hard. I never thought it was easy, but I never realized how much math was involved. BLECH! I learned a lot with this project, though, and am excited to try a few more patterns. I even have some cool ideas for how to incorporate them into greeting-type cards.The first thing I learned was how to cheat. I wasted a lot of double-sided tape, but it saved me a lot of time and headaches in the long run. Second, I learned that I had to be OK with wastefulness, not just with the tape, but with paper. Until I get this mastered, I'm going to waste a lot of paper. Maximizing paper, something I'm usually good at, wasn't an option in this craft. The third thing I learned was that I couldn't be so anal. The green arrows in my card above? I HATE that the little white lines aren't going the same direction. It pains me. But, I'm not doing it over, so I either have to leave it and live with it or chuck it. Finally, I learned that quilting is fun. I love matching patterns (of paper) and figuring out the puzzle of the pattern (following the quilting pattern doesn't simply translate to paper).

For now, this is the perfect time-waster. I get to try a new craft (quilting) without all the materials and the sewing (sewing scares me). I get to use up some of my scrapbook paper. And I get to have fun. I'll definitely have another paper quilting project to show you next month!

2 comments:

I adore my quilted wall hanging thingie! When I opened it I was like, hey, I know that design, oh my gosh, she made it out of paper! I am way jealous of your crisp points. I wish my fabric would line up like that!

I'm going to have you make a quilt block one of these days. I know you can do it!

I have a request ... look up Dresden plate quilt blocks and make me a little paper version! Oooo, here's an idea! You could make a little brooch out of it!